How To Create Ice Text in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 +

Creating splashy and attractive texts makes your work so much more creative-looking. Icy-looking texts can evoke the proper feeling or emotion that you want to be associated with your article or with whatever project you are trying to accomplish. This is especially useful if you are making a winter-themed website.

Create your text. Create a new layer for your text. For this example, you can name it “Back”. Make sure your text is on horizontal mode. Select the Horizontal Type Mask tool from the popup menu. It is best to choose font types that are block-looking like Arial Black in 180 pt.

Select your text. Type your text and then place it in the middle of your image. Select your text and save.

Softening your look. By clicking on the Channels tab, and then the Layer window, you can select the channel with the text. Deselect all, apply the Gaussian blur and this immediately gives your image a softer look. You can further adjust the look by playing with the adjustment levels (Ctrl + L).

Using the Alpha Channel. Hold down the Ctrl key and click the channel. Select the layers tab, click the back layer and apply a gradient to the area that you selected.

Making it even icier. You can make it into ice magic by applying the Fibers filter (Menu>Filter>Render>Fibers). Playing around with the Variance and Strength will create an icier look.

Plastic wrap effect. To give it a shinier look, the plastic wrap filter will be a great tool to use. Under Filters > Artistic > Plastic wrap, you can adjust the Highlight strength, the detail and the smoothness according to your requirements.

Adding more depth. To give it a bit more depth and volume, you can use the Bevel and Emboss filters which will give it a “puffier” look. This would look especially nice if you want to make your letters look like snow or smooth ice carvings. Adding a bit more shadow would make it look a bit more realistic. You can also experiment with the Smudge and Blur tool to make the edges a little less harsh. This will give your ice letters a realistic melt and shadow to it.

Have fun playing around with the settings and always remember to save
frequently so that you are assured that all your hard work will not go
down the drain if the power goes out.